alternate123 | SPIRITS ➨ d r i n k o l o g y

Well shit. Speaking of aliases and poker faces, between religion and politics, Isaac wormed his way into conversation. "Poor son of a bitch." He shook his head and lifted his glass to have a sip in honors of a fallen soldier. Ever since Isaac returned he had never been quite the same. Anyone you'd ask that knew him before wouldn't know him now. His rantings and hysterics were not something most people in this society took kindly to. It was only a matter of time before they came for him, especially with Isaac's inability to accept or afford a permanent caregiver 24/7.

"When's he getting out?" After a lobotomy, an answer he already knew. The better question is: "when are we getting him out?"

Adam sighed at first, and closed his eyes, then opened them as a smirk lit across his lips as Booker asked his second question. He slowly turned his head on his hunched shoulders and looked over at his friend. That's why he loved this man, they thought so much alike it was almost scary. Adam lifted his cup of the hot comfort drink in toast to Booker's line of thinking.

"Soon. I can't keep visiting him there. It's not right. He's, not doing well." He was doing much better around his friends, in his familiar places. Yes he had spells sometimes but at least he was living. All he was doing in the facility was dying. "And I owe him."

Adam had known Isaac a very long time. At the same time he was getting his bachelor's degree in Criminology, Isaac was getting a Masters in Engineering. They were both a little older than the other students (Isaac much older) and the two had naturally become friends. Adam had a hobbyists interest in engineering and the two of them were embarrassingly nerdy together.

"We, had a thing," Adam said carefully. "Back before I ever knew Megan." It was always an awkward risk admitting that kind of thing to another man, you could never predict how they would react. Adam was comfortable enough with Booker that he didn't think it would risk their friendship and that's why he was confessing it now. Somehow long the way their late nights over homework had become fumbling hands, kisses, and a comfortable exploration.

A baked potato skin, mushy potato innards, chives, cheese, bacon, and a creamy sauce that was treating his taste buds just right. "Herk!" But at Adam's odd statement he was between questioning and swallowing, a task that was proven to be unsuccessful. He cleared his throat and took some of that hot drink in before he turned his head to look at Adam. "A thing." His brows went up then down and his eyes went to Adam's lips then to Adam's eyes--covered by those shades.

"Seriously? You and Clarke had a thing? I would have never guessed... what was that about?"

"We were good friends, and things just kinda happened. Knowing me I was probably drunk the first time." He hadn't been, but he was starting to feel self-conscious and exaggerated the truth some. He'd been the one that initiated it. Adam looked down to his drink and took a large gulp which more or less finished it off and he set the empty glass aside, then fiddled with one of the empty oyster shells on the plate. "It wasn't ever serious but we had fun."

Adam stretched his back then went back to his bad posture, his back and shoulders hunched while he cleaned his metal fingers off with a napkin. "Then he met Nicole, and I met Megan." In fact they had never really talked about it after that. Things went to shit with Nicole, then Isaac got deployed and came back... broken. Then things went to shit with Megan, and Adam got broken. Isaac had briefly been with a girl named Ellie but that hadn't worked out either. Now, Isaac was locked away.

It was one of the things that bonded the three of them, Booker, Isaac and himself. None of them had any luck with long term relationships and so meeting like this was easy. There was nobody at any of their homes wanting them to come home early and spend time with them. Adam gave a rub over his nose and glanced over at Booker. He hoped to god this wouldn't change anything. "I'd want to get him out regardless but we have known each other a long time and, you know..." Adam didn't know how to end that sentence.

Booker nodded in attempts to acknowledge what he did know as Adam explained it: the women, the time, the effort, the disasters, the tragedy, the lies, the unresolved ending. He licked his lips and waited for Adam to finish his sentence and when he didn't he simply shrugged. "He doesn't belong there, it's just the government covering it up. I've known one too many of these situations. That's the bottom line. Isaac can't be faulted for the shit he's seen the things he's had to do. Even if it's.. unimaginable I knew him well enough to know that he's not making it up and you and I both know the world well enough to expect this kind of shit to be .. out there." See, the thing was Booker wasn't a man met by monsters, he was the monster that met the men--woman.. children..

If anyone belonged in that place it was him. His green eyes looked from Adam to his drink then he quickly finished it off before sighing. "What are we going to do with him?" Adam, though not without his own share of demons, was the most level headed of the three. He had a knack for well thought out plans. Booker didn't. He was shoot first then ask questions which never worked out well for him.

"Do you remember Jackson? Teller?" Adam gave a slight smirk again. His self-consciousness went away as the personal topic was slid away and likely never to be brought up again. That's mostly how it was between men, they just didn't talk about things old and buried that really didn't need to be brought up again. If Adam still woke up in a sweat now and again thinking about Isaac's mouth, nobody but him and his hand needed to know about it.

"Now he's away from the gang he's stuck in pseudo witness protection, which means he's home almost twenty-four-seven. Him and Isaac got along well enough and Jackson's got that Nurse brother. I thought the Tellers could take him in. I told Jackson I'd give him some kickback for it." Adam was making good money now, his security job was stable and now a lot of the heavy shit was behind him he was bored and had a lot of time to get into trouble on his own, such as looking into this Vigor black market shit going on.

"Jackson Teller..... Jax?" Booker nodded, then brought a napkin up to wipe his face--course his thoughts were not so much on this as they were now needlessly on the fact that Adam and Isaac had a thing. He couldn't see it from either of them, and that thought made him feel as if he was being unnecessarily judgmental or if he was allowed that initial shock of near disbelief! Can one really know? He wondered.

But one couldn't could they? And if they did, maybe something would be different between the times they knew one another? Like Isaac's seven year gap in outer space wherever -- coming home you wouldn't know that man at all. Megan, Adam thought he knew here but some shit happened and the woman he knew was not the woman he ended things with.

Nah, he didn't judge. He was just surprised that in all this time he's known them he never knew them. "So, Jax is on board, what about his brother?" Wait, Booker snorted. He knew Sean--oh yes, he could know with him. Sean was definitely gay.

"Jax says Sean'll help out. Sean's clean cut, while I'm not worried about him snitching I'm worried that he won't actually want to help out if it might mean his nursing certification gets pulled. I can't blame him for that. If he chooses not to help that's fine. It would just be more ease of mind if we had an actual Nurse there to help Isaac out." Adam downed another oyster and followed it by some water.

"Any meds he needs, I can get." Which was one of the perks of working at a pharmaceutical company. Adam had never abused that power before, but he would for Isaac. He'd worked there long enough to know how to make drugs go missing with no one noticing, and no one would ever suspect the chief of security. Even if they did, it was worth it. Isaac was worth it.

He looked over at Booker and reached over to place his hand on the man's shoulder. "You up for this? No harm if you want to keep your nose clean on this one, and no hard feelings."

"Pfft," Booker rolled his eyes and took some more of his edibles before he confirmed with a somewhat mouthful-answer: "Yeah, yeah.. don't be ridiculous." He shook his head and swallowed down his food with some of his water.

He wasn't going to be an asshole but he was thinking that a measly licences for nursing wasn't anything to cry about. But Sean wasn't rough like the rest of them, Sean was a clean-cut kid, as Adam described, just too good and that's the only reason one might have to be cautious of him. Too good. Shit if he's known anyone like that for a long time. Probably not since he was a kid, a young kid. Because teenagers weren't worth a medal anymore. Pissy, emotional, entitled bastards.

"How old is Sean?" He found himself asking before he shook his head realizing his thoughts carried out through is lips. "Never mind.. he's old enough.. and Jax would be a good man to keep him in line."

"I think he can. Sean's okay by me." He hadn't spent a whole lot of time with the younger Teller but the time he did spend around him, Sean was only ever kind and accommodating. Both Tellers had the same smile, that big easy smile that you had to physically force yourself not to smile back at. It was full of charm and light and so opposite of the grizzled faces of himself and Booker who probably looked like jackals whether they smiled or not.

Isaac was something else, he was just a fucking adorable big teddy bear. With a very nice smile too. Adam let his mind wander a moment on that smile before he picked up a chicken wing and started sliding the bones out from the juicy meat. "Security's light on Mondays, I thought we'd go then."

Booker gave a small nod and ordered himself another Toddy with an order of banana bread drizzled with cheesecake frosting. "Well, we better play hard this weekend... come Monday we may not get to play for a while yet." But they both knew they had enough resources between the two of them that Isaac's extraction would go well.

It was a few hours later that Booker was beginning to show signs of well-rounded drunkenness. "Her." He said more with breath than voice. "Family is going to move out of New York.. husband and remaining son.." He was explaining a case he had not too long ago in which he was hired to look into a hit and run case. He found the man, watched the family bring him to justice and then heard the family's resolve: "Run'n away, I reckon.. n'from the pain." His head was much lower on the bar, slightly swaying from left to right and his hands occupied with one gripped to the bar and the other to his drink. As if both would keep him upright.

Inevitably, Adam had started hitting the harder liquor the later the night got. Between the two of them they'd polished off all their food, plus a plate of nachos each, and another order of wings. The counter was kept tidy by the bartender thankfully or it would have looked like a party had happened in the establishment rather than just two drunkards on a typical night.

"Pain goes with ya, wherever... you go." This was Adam's deep thought on the subject. He was turned around so that his back was facing the bar, and his elbows were resting up on it behind him, and his head leaned back. He stared up at the ceiling lights, enjoying how they danced before his vision. "No matter. Always there."

Adam blinked a few times behind his lenses and lowered his chin to stare out across the bar. They were the only ones left, which wasn't unusual. He nudged his friend in the side with one elbow. "Hey, you call the cab? I's ain't called it."

Booker agreed, flatly. The fact was he wasn't enthused about pain following him around. It didn't matter what situation he was in, what he wanted to do, or how far he distanced himself, the pain was always as close as his shadow.

He pitied them, the family trying to build a life around their void as if their son would someday be totally forgotten. He couldn't, or wouldn't, see it any other way; they were leaving to forget him.

"Huh?" Booker blinked over to Adam then quickly to the bartender. "Right..." He slid off his chair, steady but ungracefully all the same. He went to the phone booth and sat himself down before he picked up the receiver. For a while he listened to the dial tone, finding an annoying comfort in it's hum but soon it beat with distress and he had to hangup the receiver and pick it back up to reset the tone, this time he didn't hesitate to call the operator for a cab. The number he couldn't recall, no matter how familiar.

When that was finished he leaned on the wall, inside the booth, and closed his eyes to the sound of the receiver hanging up again. His hand then dropped to his lap and he blinked his eyes closed. Anna..

Adam watched his friend from the safe distance of the bar, safe observation distance. He could tell Booker was struggling, and he knew him well enough to know when he was starting to get into a slump. He frowned as Booker literally slumped against the payphone booth wall and remained there looking like an old, beaten fighting dog.

He finished off the last gulp of a whiskey he had ordered earlier and he pushed himself up to stand. Adam moved in a wavering line toward the door, not to leave but to retrieve his trench coat. With a momentary struggle getting his arms into the sleeves, he snapped the high collar up into place and moved over to the booth and began pulling Booker out with a supportive arm under the other man's arms, around his friend's back.

"We don't haves to go home yet if don' wanna." Adam helped Booker toward the door, hoping some fresh air would liven them both up some. That's when Adam got a, so he thought, brilliant idea. "Elizabeth'd still be workin." She was a waitress at one of those posh establishments uptown, some rich man named Loki owned it. It was a gentleman's club, where the waitresses wore the pleasure of Loki's whims and always looked amazing for it. Booker and Adam had gone there on a case late last year and this one waitress had taken an interest in Booker. Booker didn't seem to think so, but Adam saw the way she looked at him.

Once outside Booker rubbed at his chin and face, the cold was biting to his flesh and he loosened his collar to welcome it down to his chest. A feeling that revived him, roused him if only a little and he was somewhat more aware than he was before. He turned to Adam at the idea and gave a small nod.

Elizabeth.

A sweet girl in a lion's den--if he were just talking about men it was more than they were worth, a lion. But the gentlemen's club was still accommodating for female patrons and he wouldn't necessarily categorize the fairer sex with men. Sure they had their own ways of viciousness but men were capable of such depths for the fairer sex.

"M'drunk.." Maybe too drunk.

"Jus one more, one more drink. Elizabeth'll take care of ya. Come on." Adam gave Booker's back a clap, then a squeeze on his shoulder as the cab came rolling up to the curb. Adam held onto Booker as they moved together for the door and he helped his friend inside, carefully guiding Booker's head down so that he didn't hit it as he got into the back seat.

Once in the cab, Adam relaxed with his head leaned back and eyes closed. The cabbie asked where to and the name came easily to his memory. "Club of Tricks." He'd worked there a few years back, as part of working for Loki in general. Adam had been head of security for Loki and a few of his properties, including the club. Elizabeth hadn't worked there then, but Adam came and went off and on over the years and that one time when he'd first met her, Booker had been there too. The chemistry between the two had been thick almost from the start.

He smiled to himself as they lulled and rocked with the movement of the vehicle. Maybe tonight the two would finally admit they liked each other and do something about it. "Christ."

SPIRITS ➨ d r i n k o l o g y

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